A-lab Between The Blue And The Green

How can the growth of a company mirror the growth of a city? A-lab is short for «architecture laboratory», and the company was founded some 20 years ago by two entrepreneurs who wanted to break free from the traditional architectural mode of thought. Their claim was that in order for necessary innovation to happen, focus had to change from the finished object to the process. They created new interdisciplinary collaboration processes where all voices are heard and all options are possible – in both larger and smaller projects. One of the studio’s key tenets is to always expand their visions, and so their collaborators have been actors who welcome being challenged and whom A-lab can learn from and with. Through a curated selection, this exhibition will present how this alternativeness has resulted in projects that not only reflect Oslo’s new era of urban development, they have influenced it in a profound manner.

Founded in the year 2000 in Oslo, A-lab is a young working environment of around 120 professionals from over 20 different countries and branches in France, Portugal and Denmark.
We are a group of architects, urban planners, landscape architects, interior designers, tech workers and social scientists who push for innovation, value creation and development of new knowledge. A-lab is an internationally oriented architecture firm in search of making better cities. To revitalize and improve the way in which we create architecture we are constantly looking ahead, seeking new ways of how architecture can impact how we live, both in what we create and how we create it.
Our projects span from complex urban plans to compact homes, office buildings and culture centers. The common denominator for all our projects is our research into which qualities the project can add to the site and the city fabric at large. Our laboratory atmosphere creates an engaging and interactive environment for everyone to easily connect, collaborate and share – infusing an appetite to improvise and rapidly progress ideas, develop new initiatives and steer trends, so when we ask the question ‘why not?’ we have the culture in place to inspire and make things happen.